If someone asked you, 'What is church?' How would you answer (or probably a truer depiction, 'What would you think of first?'). Would you say: 9 or 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. Would you point to an address or a building.
As I said in the previous missio post's (you can check out the last one by clicking here) --- missio dei describes the Sending God. Not just a function, but who He is. And what He is doing.
And a local 'church' is not a place or a meeting or a time - it is simply a community expression of Christ in the world.
And yet it's so easy - and subtle - for us as a 'church' to become inward focused. And instead of being the sent, we become the stagnant and content. Hey instead of worrying about all the crud 'out there', let's be sure that we have new carpet for our rooms and nice chairs and plenty of space to be comfortable. It happens. And yes, it's been happening to us in small, incremental ways.
One person put it this way: "The issue is that the church has become a refuge from the world rather than a force in the world." Yes!
Too much of the time we go to 'church' with the mindset that we are consumers of what will satisfy us, instead of conquerors. I hear it all the time from church shoppers: 'We are looking for a church that meets our need for _________.'
And before long instead of being 'On Mission' we settle for just supporting a missions program.
We must pray for it. We must fight for it. We must live for it. It's about all of us - one at a time and together as a body - seeking how we influence our world with the Good News and good deeds of Christ.
"I know this now. Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. And then it's gone. But to sacrifice what you are and live without belief, that's more terrible than dying." (Joan of Arc)
I posted about Missio Dei a couple of days ago (click here to see the post) . . . saying that the term correctly describes God as a sender and that as followers of Christ we are His sent ones.
I ended by saying that we don't need any more members, we need missionaries. We need people who believe God and who live sent lives!
Church doesn't happen in a building. Church happens as God's power is lived out through us moment by moment, day by day. One pastor in Colorado described his church as 'a group of transformed people, transforming people.' That's it!
So, WHERE? If I'm going to be a missionary, where am I 'On Mission'?
I don't know. Where are you? Because that's where? Anywhere and everywhere.
A 'sent one' understands that they don't own or rent a home on a street just to live in it and build equity. But they have been sent by God to a neighborhood for the purpose of loving and serving their neighbors in the name of Jesus.
You don't go to HEB to buy groceries. You're a follower of Jesus looking for opportunities to spread the virus of the Kingdom, and you happen to be in a grocery store.
You're not an accountant or a teacher or a pilot . . . You're a follower of Jesus disguised as an accountant or teacher or a pilot or . . . .
You see being 'On Mission' isn't so much WHERE we are . . . but WHO we are. It's giving our life to the One who was sent for us.
Who are you?
